MIE 2008 submission deadline 6 weeks away

MIE 2008 will be held on 25-28 May 2008 at Svenska Mässan in Göteborg, Sweden.The conference is organized by:EFMI - European Federation for Medical Informatics and SFMI - Swedish Federation for Medical Informatics

MIE 2008 is intended to provide an international forum for:- Presenting theoretical and empirical methods and studies of information technology in healthcare and related areas, particularly with offset in the conference theme, but not restricted to it.- Bringing new ideas: discussing the importance and role of the above methods and studies before, during and after implementation, particularly in the healthcare field.- Welcoming newcomers and supporting their efforts in acquiring competence in Medical Informatics and supporting their networking within the scientific community.

Who will attend MIE 2008?- Healthcare professionals, including members of any health discipline contributing to the delivery of healthcare.- Professionals from the health IT industry, health institutions, hospitals and universities interested in health IT systems.- Researchers and educators in medicine, any of the health sciences, allied health disciplines and information systems or technology.- Politicians, decision makers and public health administrators.

Friday, September 21, 2007

IMIA Web 2.0 Taskforce set up

IMIA, the International Medical Informatics Association (www.imia.org) has set up a Web 2.0 Exploratory Taskforce. It aims to bring together interested individuals from within and outside IMIA to explore the nature and potential of Web 2.0 applications, aiming at developing background materials and proposing specific lines of action for the IMIA Board and General Assembly.

Or in other words, we want to look at what Web 2.0 is (and beyond to think about 3.0), what it might offer IMIA and the wider health informatics community, how it might affect the future development of the discipline and health more widely, what tools we might use to support IMIA's activities as we develop our e-services - and anything else that seems relevant.

The Taskforce is being co-ordinated (in the first instance) by Peter Murray, IMIA Vice President for Working Groups and Special Interest Groups, and Lincoln A. Moura Jr., IMIA Treasurer. We welcome involvement from anyone with interest in what we are doing - and especially people with expertise in Web 2.0, in particular if they are from Europe and Asia-Pacific areas, as we have few Taskforce members from those areas at the moment. Email pjm.imia[at]gmail.com with what you can contribute to the work.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Miscommunication In The age Of Communication 02

still continuing the Discussion about miscommunication , here is my 2nd replay related to this topic with more explanation :

” You Can’t Ease the Communication for Doctors Till You fix the MisCommunication in the medical Environment , so however Health2.0 , Medicine 2.0 will be effective in 30% only in it’s use , we have to Focus On the reality as We Focus On The Virtual Reality … cause The reality is the core . ”

we were talking about miscommunication as a failure of the system .. but i figured i have to as the Base Question ” is it a Malpractice ? and if its , is it Malpractice caused by the system or the individual doctor ?” ….

so if we classify the problem and assign it to it’s real name and classification , we will be able to :

1- detect the real cause ( causes ) behind it .

2-improve our treatment to the problem , we just don’t want a superficial treatment as we need a core treatment . ( superficial treatment always temporary , and could hide the problem symptoms sometime )

3-can predict what’ll happened if this problem became massive at the future4- avoid the future massive consequences coming from it .

so my first point to classify the problem to it’s real ( name , classification and category ) before we start working on it ….

that simple matter ( problem classification) will help us to realize the how big the problem is ….. and how much we should be concerned to fix and cure it …

Miscommunication IS a System MalpracticeCan be Fixed if we fixed the bugs in the system , it’s not just about the doctor … however it’s not similar to the common medical errors , mistakes or accidentals malpractice …

the other Medical errors , mistakes AND/OR Malpractice are individually ( or at least Miseducation , Mis-supervision Or Carelessly) based …. but my point , Miscommunication is a System Based Medical Malpractice …….

thou . it can be fixed , and it’s consequences could be avoidable ….

in my study case i notice :

it’s based in egypt or at least my Area :

1- The Doctors : Miseducation to the rule of communication , sharing and Team consultation concept ….. ( Happened to be in medical school for years , they thought us Solid Science NOT the Core and the soul of medicine , Am Lucky to have my father and some great friends “Doctors ” from Egypt UK , India and Europe who helped me a lot )

2-The Patient and His relative themselves :here in egypt : i can’t say there is No captain in the Ship ( just in the hospitals * Should BE. ) in the real life it’s too much different

Himm Let’s Simplify the Patients to 2 Categories :1-who know Doctor ( Family Doctor , Doctor in The family , Friend )2-Simple patient : who is lonely , do everything by himself … ( Let’s say the normal pathway for any patient , as it should to be , ***** In Corrupted system )

Here : The Patients don’t just go for second opinion : but they went to the 10th opinion ( not cause of the trust but cause they mistaken understand the simple medical rules , and they some what without guidance ) … so imagine some how the doctors Calling their colleagues asking for the case ( Just the current case ) , and believe me , as they should ask they should ask also about ( who ,when , where , which , why , how .* The complete medical history ) we have complete defect in this matter….

So miscommunication here is common ….

Capitan of the Ship is already here in 5 different form :in my state , ( * at Least My City ) every family got many doctors already , so Myself as a case study : here is all my friend and their families considering me as their own private doctor , who’ll seek for the disease , and choose the specialists , and where to do the operation ….etc ….

in my family there is many doctors ….simply there is Capitan of the ship , and Happened to be that one Who cares … ( family , friends ) let’s say the role of the old Capitan of the ship is still existed in Egypt .. in that simple form …..

as a one happened to be in this situation many times , my father for thousands times , i believed it’s Matter of ( care , trust and believe ) between the Patient and That Captin in the ship , ( There is some how misunderstanding Leading TO Confusion of The trust Between the patient and his Doctor ) .

The patient who choose this Capitan of the ship …… we don’t choose the ship ……..

i have to learn myself how to talk medicine common ( In Dialects Arabic Egyptian ) as well ( to help the patients understand me and that’s the first way to the trust and believe )

In about 7 years in the Med School : They don’t Thought us How to Communicate with Patients ( In the common Language *Dialects Arabic Egyptian ) , Even with Other Colleagues ( as team work or to share , discuss , exchange )!!!!!!!!….

If ( If ) : They Thought us How to :1-speak common !!! to communicate with the patients.2-corporate with our colleagues …it might be fix the problem and hold it down ..

so it’s bug in the system ( Miseducation and postgraduate connections ) ….

also after speaking with many doctors all over the world , they suffer the same problem some how …. ….The Massive Miscommunication in Egypt only Happened in Hospitals , at the Consultation ( which is based on the only lonely patients with no doctor he knows to guide him to choose and decide his final choice and decision ..( The Patients already asking for many opinion , imagine how he could choose a treatment himself without help of Guidance ?!!! )

Miscommunication as i see came from : Miseducation

Miscommunication Leads to Misunderstanding , and Misjudgments ….

Leading to Mistreatment , and Finally Malpractice of the system …

Failure of the system … is unavoidable with massive Miscommunication ….

Doing IT – Learning from one another

The Royal College of Nursing, British Computer Society Nursing Specialist group and eHealth Nursing Wales will be holding a joint conference entitled Doing IT – Learning from one another on Wednesday 14th November 2007 at Ty Maeth, The Heath, Cardiff.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Metaknowledge mashup - live blogging

The KIDMM 'Metaknowledge mashup' day is happening at BCS HQ in London today. I will be blogging 'live' throughout the day - posts can be found on the BCS blogs site at the 'Release Zero' blog - http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConBlog.6

Miscommunication In The age Of Communication 02

still continuing the Discussion about miscommunication , here is my 2nd replay related to this topic with more explanation :

” You Can’t Ease the Communication for Doctors Till You fix the MisCommunication in the medical Environment , so however Health2.0 , Medicine 2.0 will be effective in 30% only in it’s use , we have to Focus On the reality as We Focus On The Virtual Reality … cause The reality is the core . ”

we were talking about miscommunication as a failure of the system .. but i figured i have to as the Base Question ” is it a Malpractice ? and if its , is it Malpractice caused by the system or the individual doctor ?” ….

so if we classify the problem and assign it to it’s real name and classification , we will be able to :

1- detect the real cause ( causes ) behind it .

2-improve our treatment to the problem , we just don’t want a superficial treatment as we need a core treatment . ( superficial treatment always temporary , and could hide the problem symptoms sometime )

3-can predict what’ll happened if this problem became massive at the future4- avoid the future massive consequences coming from it .

so my first point to classify the problem to it’s real ( name , classification and category ) before we start working on it ….

that simple matter ( problem classification) will help us to realize the how big the problem is ….. and how much we should be concerned to fix and cure it …

Miscommunication IS a System MalpracticeCan be Fixed if we fixed the bugs in the system , it’s not just about the doctor … however it’s not similar to the common medical errors , mistakes or accidentals malpractice …

the other Medical errors , mistakes AND/OR Malpractice are individually ( or at least Miseducation , Mis-supervision Or Carelessly) based …. but my point , Miscommunication is a System Based Medical Malpractice …….

thou . it can be fixed , and it’s consequences could be avoidable ….

in my study case i notice :

it’s based in egypt or at least my Area :

1- The Doctors : Miseducation to the rule of communication , sharing and Team consultation concept ….. ( Happened to be in medical school for years , they thought us Solid Science NOT the Core and the soul of medicine , Am Lucky to have my father and some great friends “Doctors ” from Egypt UK , India and Europe who helped me a lot )

2-The Patient and His relative themselves :here in egypt : i can’t say there is No captain in the Ship ( just in the hospitals * Should BE. ) in the real life it’s too much different

Himm Let’s Simplify the Patients to 2 Categories :1-who know Doctor ( Family Doctor , Doctor in The family , Friend )2-Simple patient : who is lonely , do everything by himself … ( Let’s say the normal pathway for any patient , as it should to be , ***** In Corrupted system )

Here : The Patients don’t just go for second opinion : but they went to the 10th opinion ( not cause of the trust but cause they mistaken understand the simple medical rules , and they some what without guidance ) … so imagine some how the doctors Calling their colleagues asking for the case ( Just the current case ) , and believe me , as they should ask they should ask also about ( who ,when , where , which , why , how .* The complete medical history ) we have complete defect in this matter….

So miscommunication here is common ….

Capitan of the Ship is already here in 5 different form :in my state , ( * at Least My City ) every family got many doctors already , so Myself as a case study : here is all my friend and their families considering me as their own private doctor , who’ll seek for the disease , and choose the specialists , and where to do the operation ….etc ….

in my family there is many doctors ….simply there is Capitan of the ship , and Happened to be that one Who cares … ( family , friends ) let’s say the role of the old Capitan of the ship is still existed in Egypt .. in that simple form …..

as a one happened to be in this situation many times , my father for thousands times , i believed it’s Matter of ( care , trust and believe ) between the Patient and That Captin in the ship , ( There is some how misunderstanding Leading TO Confusion of The trust Between the patient and his Doctor ) .

The patient who choose this Capitan of the ship …… we don’t choose the ship ……..

i have to learn myself how to talk medicine common ( In Dialects Arabic Egyptian ) as well ( to help the patients understand me and that’s the first way to the trust and believe )

In about 7 years in the Med School : They don’t Thought us How to Communicate with Patients ( In the common Language *Dialects Arabic Egyptian ) , Even with Other Colleagues ( as team work or to share , discuss , exchange )!!!!!!!!….

If ( If ) : They Thought us How to :1-speak common !!! to communicate with the patients.2-corporate with our colleagues …it might be fix the problem and hold it down ..

so it’s bug in the system ( Miseducation and postgraduate connections ) ….

also after speaking with many doctors all over the world , they suffer the same problem some how …. ….The Massive Miscommunication in Egypt only Happened in Hospitals , at the Consultation ( which is based on the only lonely patients with no doctor he knows to guide him to choose and decide his final choice and decision ..( The Patients already asking for many opinion , imagine how he could choose a treatment himself without help of Guidance ?!!! )

Miscommunication as i see came from : Miseducation

Miscommunication Leads to Misunderstanding , and Misjudgments ….

Leading to Mistreatment , and Finally Malpractice of the system …

Failure of the system … is unavoidable with massive Miscommunication ….

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Miscommunication and medical Malpractice

Miscommunication is a huge problem in the medical practice , years before we didn’t suffer from such problem , but right now we are suffering from it in the age of communications. The miscommunication i mean same as Dr. Mark E. Meaney means , as it’s miscommunication between the Doctors themselves and another miscommunication between the Doctors and the Patient ….

Dr. Mark E. Meaney is the President and CEO of National Institute for Patient Rights (NIPR) …. he helped me through his discussion about that topic to reconsider my thinking about that matter …. To follow up with Dr. Mark E. Meaney you might join Empower Patients group at facebook.before as my father thought me

” Your Patient is more than case more that a responsibility , you’ll spend sometime with , your patient is trusting you not just as a doctor but also as his guidance , and right now many doctors forget this part and that responsibility , now the patient is just another case “

So :

Can we Consider the Miscommunication as failure in the system Or as Medical Malpractice ?

This Question is based on what i read in “Miscommunication, or a failure to communicate, in health care delivery.” ….. at this Discussion Board ..

There is Miscommunication leading to failure sometime in the diagnosis , sometimes in the decision ( by the patient or his own doctor ) ….

so before i replied the other post , my coder ” programming sense ” hold me to give it a thought ( we should classify the problem and know how dangerous its , then studying it , Analysis the causes , then make the plan to fix , cure and treat the problem ”..

so now this miscommunication is :

1- a small failure in the system ?!!2- or a complete malpractice ?!!!!

the way i see it :it’s a complete medical malpractice ,why :,

1.confuse the Teamwork actions .. between the doctors2.produce a conflict in the diagnosis and/or medication3.The decision by the patient himself might be regrettable , wrong cause it build on wrong or incomplete information cause the miscommunication ..4-Miscommunication Leads to Misunderstanding which finally will conclude to Misjudgments ……

Each Patient’s case is a Ship and needs only one captain to admin it and guide it …..

Personally as i see : we can’t say how to fix this miscommunication , simply cause the Doctor’s area and environments are too much different , it might be closed environment ( Hospital , Center , Clinic ) or wide open ( Health Charity Organizations , Open Clinics , community health services powered by the community ) , plus we need to know the source of cause about miscommunication , in wide large scale of doctors and health services providers as well as many environments … (That’s way we need many doctors to Contribute us in this matter , we need to know many opinions , and know about many environments ) ..

The solution has it’s own 2 ways :1-fix the partial miseducation and environmental , works causes which lead to miscommunication .finally to misjudgment . ( The Diagnosis , and the decision then the medication )

2-social and community icons : as the chaplain , Family Doctor …. as Dr.Mark E. Meaney suggests …. which i totally agree about the whole concept .

… years later this miscommunication will be massive and produce non avoidable consequences , which we can avoid the future problem by fixing and planning how from now …

I've not got all the details from the Health Select Committee report yet but have spotted a couple of conlusions which I think point out some of the problems they have identified in the NHS's National Programme for IT and Connecting for Health approach:

NPfIT is characterised by a centralised management structure and large-scale procurement from private suppliers. This approach aims to offer improved value for money and to address the previously patchy adoption of IT systems across the health service. The Department defended the progress made by NPfIT to date, arguing that the programme is on course to succeed. However, serious doubts have been raised, from sources including the Public Accounts Committee, about how much has been achieved and about the likely completion date. In particular, progress on the development of the NCRS has been questioned.

The input of end-users is vital in planning, design and implementation.

As EPR systems make more personal health data accessible to more people, breaches of security and confidentiality must be regarded as serious matters.

The arrangements for the SCR will be strengthened when "sealed envelopes" are made available to protect sensitive information and when patients can access their record via the HealthSpace website... Connecting for Health must ensure that both "sealed envelopes" and HealthSpace are introduced as soon as possible, particularly so that their effectiveness can be assessed during the independent evaluation of the early adopter programme.

The sharing of unique smartcards between users is unacceptable and undermines the operational security of DCR systems. However, we sympathise with the A&E staff who shared smartcards when faced with waits of a minute or more to access their new PAS software. Unless unacceptably lengthy log-on times are addressed, security breaches are inevitable.

I'm sure there will be more to follow and that this report will generate wider interest - but if others have comments please add them.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Researchers Tap GPS, PDAs For Malaria Prevention

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are using PDA software and GPS navigation systems to collect data on homes in Nigeria that have bed nets treated with insecticides. Without such equipment, data collection took researchers weeks to compile. They now spend about a day collecting the information.

EPSRC call for Exploration Studies for Grand Challenges within the Information-Driven Health Initiative

This is the preparatory stage of a potential major initiative in this area, looking at the potential of novel Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to improve health and transform care provision.

Initially, they are looking to support eighteen month activities intended to develop and inform potential future research grand challenges in this area. The initiative seeks to support multi-disciplinary ICT and health research to enable earlier and better detection, decision and intervention.

Examples of advances that might fall within this vision include amongst others:

·The use of simulation and modelling to enable personalisation of treatments;

·The integration of clinical imaging with biomedical modelling and other information to allow visualisation of diagnostic and treatment decision relevant biological information rather than physical parameters;

·Opening up new opportunities for early detection of public health issues by combination of health care, genomic, socio-economic, and demographic data;

·Using two-way information flow with implantable devices;

·The use of networked sensors and other pervasive IT technologies to monitor health and control intervention delivery both within and outside dedicated care environments;

PhD studentship in E-learning/Health Informatics

The University of the West of England, Bristol Centre for Learning and Workforce Research is currently advertsing a PhD studentship in E-learning/Health Informatics for UK/EU residents with a Masters degree or good honours degree (2:1 or above) in a relevant subject for a three year full time Doctoral Studentship starting in January 2008.

The Studentship includes a tax exempt annual stipend of £12,600 rising in line with UK Research Councils and covers annual tuition fees.

Proposals should relate to one or more of the following areas:

- Use of e-portfolios/ evaluation of e-portfolios

- Online Communities of Practice supporting professional working

- Application of handheld/mobile technologies in health and social care practice/education

- Technology based learning across further, higher education and health and social care boundaries

- Measuring attitudes of health and social care staff to the use of IT

- Evaluating practice change resultant from of the use of electronically available health information

- Impact of technology on management/ education in the health and social care arena

About

Eclectic news and views on health informatics and elearning, by Rod Ward & colleagues. UK bias but worldwide coverage.
If you want to join the membership so that you can post comments - just let me know rod@rodspace.co.ukReturn to lastest posts